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Coop Super Helldive, Max Difficulty Lvl 10, all objectives (Main + Optional) completed, all nests cleared, no personal deaths
Modifiers: Intense Heat
Planet: Erata Prime
Patch version: 1.001.003

These nerfs broke your meta?

Honestly, with all the furore over the Incendiary Breaker and Flamethrower, I was expecting to really feel the pinch on lvl 10. Instead...they're both still excellent?

The Incendiary Breaker has preserved all of its damage, excelling at both taking out Hunter packs with just a few shots, and still having the burst damage to pop a Charger's ass in one stun. The ammo capacity nerf hurts at first, until you learn to adjust to not spamming unless necessary - if you play smart with its DoT, you can still clear more than enough light chaff before your next resupply. Taking a supply pack would let you spam it like you used to, though I opted not to so I could really tell how the new ammo capacity felt.

The Flamethrower I was more apprehensive about, the removal of penetration as a nerf to both its anti-heavy and anti-chaff ability in theory...but in practice it still excelled as an anti-chaff weapon if you make more use of the groundfires, and was surprisingly comfortable as a Charger killer too. While you do have to matador now, the ass kill with the Flamer is definitely one of the fastest of all the support weapons, can be done from up close unlike the GL and AC, and with the mobile reload can be repeated for the next Charger very comfortably. That's well in line with the other generalist support weapons, and a better position balance-wise than before where it was both a good trash clearer and the best Charger killer in the game by far.

The results speak for themselves. Most kills, 0 Deaths, and a bunch of Charger kills. The biggest takeaway for me was - try before you cry. Even as I disagreed with the online furore, a part of me was apprehensive about using the Flamer and iBreaker again whilst getting to grips with lvl 10, to the point where I was already saying I didn't like the Flamethrower change before I'd actually given it a proper go. Even if you're fighting against the flow, it's easy to get swept up with it.

Big thanks to my teammates as usual, ‪@EchoLoss-sw1ce‬,
Kingxex (‪@maclegend9169‬) and ‪@originalSPECTER‬. If you're looking to join us or other like-minded players, check out Warrior's discord:   / discord  

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Build:

I'll be trying out different Incendiary Breaker setups in other runs, but for this one we're not taking any supply packs, instead splitting trash duties between the iBreaker and the Flamer. Distant enemy packs? Hit them with a few shots of the iBreaker and let them burn. Enemies entering close-mid range, with mediums mixed in? Hit them with the Flamethrower, setting groundfires for most enemies and going for headshots for Brood and Alpha Commanders.

The Charger kill with the Flamer is easiest with Stun nades, though they're not necessary - it is one of the faster ass kills especially since you don't need to jump out of FF range like you do with the AC or GL.

With all that groundfire about, taking one of the new fire-resistant armours means you're free to walk through them and will take minimal damage - the Shield Generator backpack also comes in very handy for keeping the flamethrower going even when jumped by Hunters and other light enemies.

Napalm Airstrike gives you even more fire, perfect for bug breaches or hitting a horde on your heels, then OPS is your general purpose AT, best reserved for Impalers and Bile Titans, though Impalers do go down quick with some flaming on its exposed face as well.

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00:00 Intro
00:15 Insertion, Escape Pod
01:05 Nest 1
04:00 Flag 1, Shrieker Nest
08:30 SEAF Artillery
09:50 Flag 2
12:10 Nest 2
13:30 Radar Station, Stalker Lair, Nest 3
16:30 Mega Nest
23:40 Flag 3
26:30 Extraction
31:40 Mission Stats